[The Romans’ names – Structure and practicability]
The Romans had a real cult for names. Thus, a name could distinguish a Roman citizen from a pilgrim, plebeian or slave. Roman citizens usually bore tria nomina (three names) consisting of praenomen, nomen gentile (a kind of surname) and cognomen (a better translation would be a kind of agnomen, rather than a nickname). For some remarkable figures, the Roman emperors, there also exist nomina triumphalia (names obtained after the victory over certain nations).
The social involvement of Roman names was very high, so the consuls could name the year and they were listed on each decree, law or other important document; laws were named after their initiator and Roman temples and edifices often bore, besides the name of the gods, the builders’ names. Moreover, in Roman politics there often occurred the application of damnatio memoriae for unworthy emperors, which implied nothing more than deleting those emperors’ names as a sign of disdain. Thus, the Romans’ names very well reflect the perfection of their civilisation.

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